Storage battery.



No. 629 37|. Patented July 25, |899.. c. w. KENNEDY. y

sTonAaE sATTnv. (Application :tiled Aug. 29, 1898) (Nolodel.)

lll, l//7// UNITED 1 STATES PATENT EEICE.v

CHARLES W. KENNEDY, or EUTLEDGE, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNoE, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, To THE ELEcrEIc POWER DEvELoPMENT COMPANY.

s'ToRAo. E. BATTERY.

A srE'ciFcATIoN rqrmingpart of Letters Patent No. eaorfnfdated J'uly a5,189e.

` lAp'piiatimi met August 29,1898. staunt. 689,792. (Nomar To all whom,it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Rutledge, in the county of 'Delawareand State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements inStorage Batteries, of

which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to'the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a vertical section of a storage battery having partsembodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the electrodes of acouple detached. Fig. 3 in a section on the line m fr of Fig. 2. Fig. 4is a side view of one of the electrodes. Fig. 5 is a partial side viewof the same on a larger scale.v Fig. 6 is a perspective of apart of oneof thelead strips from which the pellets are formed. Fig.

7 is a vertical section of one of thebars of an electrode-arm. vFig. 8is a similar section showing the pellet at the time of first in sertion.Fig. 9 is a similar section showing the pellet after it is expanded.

In thedrawingsl have shown my improve# ments as applied toa storage orsecondary battery'ofone of the forms now wellknown;

but as the present invention relates particularly to the mannerotconstructing and arranging the parts of the electrodes it will beunderstood that the cells or cups can be of any well-known form.-Thoseillustrated are lcups lof hard rubber, for instance, (shown at A,)

they having their side walls flared upwardly and outwardly and theirbottoms arranged their parts.

sisting of the bar B andV bars C, secured tol and extendingtransverselythereof, the lat' to rest directly one-'upon-another. Inv these' ycellsare placed the electrodes having my present features of improvement. Thestructural features ofthe positive andnegativeelec-Y trodes of eachcouple are substantially the same, though more'particular referencemaybe made to the positive in order to understand- There is a frameor'carrier conter bars being unsupported (and separated from each other)at their Quterends. Each Y bar C isformed with a series of apertures DVof relatively large diameter and as closely tokgether'as possible. lnthese apertures are placed pellets or masses of active material. Thelatter are formed from strips of lead 'tape, sucl1 askshown at F., ofwhich Suitable lengths are taken and bent to form tight coils. Prior tothe coilin g they are subjected lto the action of corrugating devices,prefer ably of Nthe form of aribbed roller working in opposition to acompanion roller and by means of which comparatively sharp andwelldefined V-shaped grooves'e are formed in one or both surfaces o fthe tape. Aftera coil of well known, occurs after. the commencement ofthe electrolytic action. Such expansion causes the pellet to assume moreor less of the form. shown in Fig. 9,' and the edges of the tape areallowed to assume this shape because of the taper of the walls ofthevaperture D.

vThe corrugations and grooves on the surface passage-ways through whichtheelectrolyte sucieutlidiameter has been formed it is' f -of the tapeprovide a great number of minute Y liquid can. freely circulate,y andthus reach every point of the surface of thelead.

' I provide an electrical connection from one pellet to vanotherandfromthe pellets to their carrying arms or plates, rthese consisting ofmetallic pieces F F,closely joined to the metal of the pellets andpreferablyunited also yto the metal of the electrode bars or arms. Notonly doI providea great exposure of `active [surface by arranging thepellets in the way described, but, as stated, furnish a free cir-Vculation of the electrolyte and obviate,-practically, entirely alll ofthe buckling, warping, or bending of the parts of the4 electrode.After-'the pellets areinserted and before beij'aces may be enlarged .bymechanical means, 'l if desired, as by pressure, so that said faces Y fshall be wider than the aperture in which they are inserted. Whetherthis widening is thus effected or results from the electrolytic exfcause of the presence of a large amount of inpansion, -it insures Vthatthe pellets shall be l lrmly locked against escape fromthe bars or IOO 9f ingput into use their wider outer or exposed 2 4 eaevi active metal inthe plates and other parts. This has largely prohibited their use formany purposes, such as the propulsion of vehicles, boats, &c. I havesucceeded in overcoming this to a large extent in batteries of the sortillustrated. I employ bars, such as shown, which are relatively narrow,and provide each with a series of large apertures to receive the pelletsand reduce the bars on lines intermediate ofthe pellets, as is shown atII. Only sufficient solid metal is retained to furnish what may beregarded as aseries of ring-like holders, and the proportion of theactive metal to theinactive is greatly increased. The arms or bars ofthe negative electrodes alternate with those of the positive, all lyingin substantially the same horizontal planes, and the bottoms of thecells can be brought close together, the result being a great reductionin weight and economizing of space. The positive and negative electrodebars are spaced and held apart by insulators, such as shown at K. y

What I claim isl. An electrode for a storage battery having a series ofbars or plates provided with perforations, each perforation having thesurrounding metal reduced to a thin edge in or near the centraltransverse plane of the perforation, and pellets tightly inserted in thesaid. perforations, each pellet being formed of coils or rings of activematerial adapted to expand radially of the apertures substantially asset forth.

2. An electrode for a storage battery having a series of relatively thinnarrow bars of solid metal provided with perforations, the edge wall ofeach perforation being tapered from the surface of the bar to thecenter, and pellets of active material formed of `coils or rings ofmetal, each coil being tightly inserted in one of said perforations andtapering in opposite directions from the center of its aperturecontinuously to the outer faces of the pellets.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES W. KENNEDY.

l/Vitnesses:

RICHARD B. CAVANAGH, H. H. BLISS.

